Gadhafi 'Willing to step aside' in election defeat
Source: Agencies |
June 17, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MOAMMAR Gadhafi is willing to hold elections and step aside if he lost, his son said yesterday.
The proposal comes at a time when frustration is mounting in some NATO states at the progress of the military campaign.
Four months into the conflict, rebel advances towards Tripoli are slow at best, while weeks of NATO airstrikes pounding Gadhafi's compound and other targets have failed to end his 41-year-old rule over the oil-producing country.
"They could be held within three months. At the maximum by the end of the year, and the guarantee of transparency could be the presence of international observers," Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
He said his father would be ready to step aside if he lost the election but would not go into exile.
"I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of Libyans stand with my father and see the rebels as fanatical Islamist fundamentalists, terrorists stirred up from abroad," the newspaper quoted Saif al-Islam as saying.
The offer was made as Mikhail Margelov, the envoy leading Russia's efforts to end the conflict, arrived in Tripoli for talks with Gadhafi's government. The Kremlin has said it is ready to help negotiate the Libyan leader's departure.
The proposal comes at a time when frustration is mounting in some NATO states at the progress of the military campaign.
Four months into the conflict, rebel advances towards Tripoli are slow at best, while weeks of NATO airstrikes pounding Gadhafi's compound and other targets have failed to end his 41-year-old rule over the oil-producing country.
"They could be held within three months. At the maximum by the end of the year, and the guarantee of transparency could be the presence of international observers," Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
He said his father would be ready to step aside if he lost the election but would not go into exile.
"I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of Libyans stand with my father and see the rebels as fanatical Islamist fundamentalists, terrorists stirred up from abroad," the newspaper quoted Saif al-Islam as saying.
The offer was made as Mikhail Margelov, the envoy leading Russia's efforts to end the conflict, arrived in Tripoli for talks with Gadhafi's government. The Kremlin has said it is ready to help negotiate the Libyan leader's departure.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
